WWF at Madison Square Garden (July 1, 1991)

Original Airdate: July 1, 1991

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Bobby Heenan

Opening Match: Dino Bravo v Shane Douglas: Bravo works a standing side-headlock to start, so Shane forces a criss cross, and hiptosses him. He does a sloppy takedown into a side-headlock of his own, and a bodypress gets him two. Monkeyflip, but Dino uses an inverted atomic drop to block, and he delivers an elbowdrop for two. A sloppy gutwrench suplex gets him two, so he works a reverse chinlock, until Shane fights free. Douglas uses a sunset flip for two, but Bravo blasts him with a shoulderblock for two to cut off a comeback. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Douglas dodges. Dino tries again, same result, and Shane makes a comeback. Trio of dropkicks get him two, but he walks into a sidewalk slam at 5:29. Not much to this one, though there was some notably sloppy execution throughout. ½*

Ricky Steamboat v Paul Roma: Roma attacks from behind, which Gorilla rightly notes is the referee’s fault for ringing the bell while Steamboat was still removing his entrance gear with his back turned. Roma with a bodyslam, but Steamboat fights him off, and works a wristlock. Roma tries a backdrop, but Steamboat blocks, and armdrags him into an armbar. Roma slugs free, and delviers an elbowdrop for two, followed by a flying axehandle. Series of rights rattle the Dragon, as the announcers bounce back and forth between acknowledging Steamboat’s history, and acting like he’s a newcomer (“undefeated in the World Wrestling Federation,” according to Heenan). Roma with a standing dropkick for two, and a three-alarm no-release backbreaker follows. Impressive power display there. Roma puts the boots to him until Ricky falls out of the ring, and Paul brings him back in with a hanging vertical suplex for two. Slugfest goes Steamboat’s way, however, and he makes a comeback. Flying tomahawk chop finds the mark, but Roma blocks a splash by lifting his knees. Headlock, but Steamboat quickly side suplexes his way out of trouble, and covers for two. Cross corner whip, but Roma reverses - only to miss a charge. That allows Steamboat to get to the top, and a flying bodypress puts it away at 11:04. This was competent. *

Jimmy Snuka v Berzerker: Posturing to start, with Snuka giving him a hard time by dodging all of Berzerker’s stuff. Snuka with a pair of headbutts to knock Berzerker out of the ring, and Jimmy goes after the leg on the way back in. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in hits the boot, and Berzerker throws a knee, knocking Superfly out of the ring. Mr. Fuji is ready with a cheap shot out there, and Berzerker works him over once he’s back inside. Snuka fights him off and makes a comeback, but a Thesz-press gets caught with a hotshot at 7:13. Dull stuff. DUD

Brutus Beefcake hosts The Barber Shop, with special guest Randy Savage. A very slimmed down looking Randy Savage, at that. Randy announces that he’s been looking for venues for his wedding to Miss Elizabeth, and has settled on Madison Square Garden, next month at SummerSlam. Best part about this is seeing that Savage has repurposed some of Dusty Rhodes’ leftover polka dots for his wrist wraps

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Nasty Boys v The Hart Foundation: I get that it’s a rematch, but Bret Hart was pretty much exclusively a single by this point, so it feels odd. It’s actually the first time the Hart Foundation had teamed up Stateside since losing the belts at WrestleMania VII, and the first time anywhere in two months. Jerry Sags and Jim Neidhart start, but Brian Knobbs switches in before contact is made. Anvil doesn’t care, and hammers him into the corner, then cross corner whips him for a shoulderblock on the rebound. That draws Sags back in, but Jim cleans house on his own, and the announcers are really putting the Foundation over hard here, even Heenan. The champs try a double team, but Jim quickly fights them off, and the Hitman comes in to help clean house again. The dust settles on Knobbs and Hart, and Bret backelbows him down right away. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, so Knobbs goes to the eyes, and tags. Sags rushes in, but Bret is ready with an armdrag into an armbar, so Jerry gets into the ropes. Criss cross allows Bret a takedown for a stomp to the groin, and he hangs Sags in a tree of woe in the home corner for a double team. Bret smashes his face into the steps for good measure, so Sags goes to the eyes on Anvil on the way back in, and passes to Brian. The heels try a double team of their own, and they manage to dump Jim to the outside. The Nasies cut the ring in half on Neidhart, but Sags lands on the knees while trying a flying splash, and Bret gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! The Foundation hit Knobbs with the Hart Attack, but Sags makes the save. Jimmy Hart tries passing his men the motorcycle helmet, but Bret intercepts it - only to get busted using it for the DQ at 11:34. This was, for all intents and purposes, the last Hart Foundation match, as they wouldn’t ever team again as a proper tag team, and wouldn’t in any capacity until 1997, when they’d work a few six or ten-man tag matches together. * ½ 

Greg Valentine v Warlord: Greg dominates in the early going, but ends up getting clobbered, and Warlord takes control. He rams Greg into the post on the outside, but the Hammer beats the count back in, so Warlord puts the boots to him. Elbowdrop gets Warlord two, as Hayes channels Art Donovan on commentary. Warlord with a backbreaker for two, and he continues working Greg over in dull fashion. Bearhug looks to put it away, as the announcers make jokes about how ‘roided up Warlord is. Greg cracks him in the ear to force a break, but Warlord bodyslams him before he can make a comeback. 2nd rope fistdrop, but Greg rolls out of the way, and makes a comeback. Cross corner whip, but Warlord rebounds at him, and bodyslam finishes at 10:13. This was really boring. ¼*

Earthquake v Jake Roberts: Jake has Andre the Giant in his corner for this one, and Earthquake stalls to start, worked up about Andre’s presence. Jake grabs a headlock after four minutes of posturing, and a series of jabs wobble Earthquake, but fail to take him off of his feet. Back to the standing headlock, so Earthquake tries a backdrop, but Jake throws a kneelift to block. Earthquake bails, but Jake drags him right back in, and delivers a short-clothesline. DDT, but Earthquake uses an inverted atomic drop to block, and he works Jake over. Jake bails following a corner whip, so Earthquake actually teases a dive from the top rope, before deciding to just do more stomping instead. That would have been pretty incredible. Earthquake Splash looks to finish, but he gets distracted by Andre, and Jake DDTs him at 10:29. And that was pretty much the end of Jake’s babyface run, as he turned heel shortly after. DUD

Haku and Barbarian v Kato and Mr. Fuji: Fuji is subbing for Tanaka, whose father had passed away. Barbarian and Kato start, with Barbarian powering him around, but he eats a boot while trying a corner charge. That allows Kato a pair of 2nd rope tomahawk chops, but Barbarian fights him off with a backbreaker, and he passes to Haku. Haku misses an elbowdrop on the way in, allowing Kato a standing dropkick, and Fuji tags in. Heenan (upset at Fuji for going against his former charges) distracts Fuji to allow Haku to clobber him, and a hanging vertical suplex sets up a 2nd rope headbutt drop - only for Fuji to dodge. That allows the tag back to Kato, and he dumps Haku to the outside. Heenan tries to assist him back in, so Fuji attacks Bobby on the outside, and the heels work Haku over. They do so until a battered Bobby is able to trip Kato up, and Haku capitalizes with the pin at 7:06. Boy, that was really an abrupt ending. ½*

Main Event: Body Bag Match: Undertaker v Ultimate Warrior: Undertaker tries attacking before the bell, but Warrior fights him off, and sends him into the steps and the post. Inside, Warrior uses a turnbuckle smash, but Undertaker barely sells anything going on, in full zombie mode at this point in his career. He loosened up with that later on, but it was something really unique in his first year or so, until the babyface turn. Undertaker fights back with a choke in the corner, which a close up kind of ruins by revealing that Undertaker is basically massaging his chest more than anything else. Warrior ducks a clothesline and delivers a bodyslam, but a charge in the corner is blocked with a boot. Elbowdrop, but Warrior gets out of the way. He tries his own, but Undertaker gets out of the way, as we really kick the workrate into high gear. “A hush has fallen over the Garden,” notes Gorilla. Yeah, because this match sucks. Undertaker with another choke, but Warrior blocks him in the corner, and delivers a piledriver! Undertaker no-sells, so Warrior delivers another one, but Undertaker just sits up again. Warrior responds with a third piledriver, which seems to work, until Undertaker blocks a splash. That allows him the Tombstone, and he tries stuffing Warrior into the bag, but Warrior fights him off as he’s zipping it up. Warrior makes a comeback, and he nails Undertaker with the urn to knock him silly. That allows Warrior to get him in the bag at 9:29. This wasn’t a good match, but it’s two huge gimmicks and personalities, and it didn’t overstay its welcome, so it worked more than it didn’t. The body bag gimmick was definitely kind of clunky though, and it worked a lot better once they figured out the concept of the casket match. ½*

BUExperience: This was a totally skippable show, but it felt lively, at least. 

DUD